The third week of our missions Sunday School class for kids was about medical missions. We learned about a family from our local church whose dad serves as a doctor in Africa. We also had a young lady from our church come speak to the kids. She is a nurse and spent 6 months serving at a medical mission hospital in Zambia. She was able to show pictures and share about her experiences while living there. (Need an extra activity? Try having the kids color the Flag from Zambia.)
There are several missionary doctors from the past that you could choose to talk about. David Livingstone is one historical medical missionary that explored much of Africa, and there are many books written about him. Helen Roseveare was a missionary to the Congo in the 1950’s-1970’s. She practiced medicine and also trained others in medical skills. She was taken kidnapped and imprisoned, but she was later freed and returned to Africa to continue her mission work.
Here are some affiliate links to books you might like to use:
Our craft consisted of making a “doctor kit”.
We used the following supplies:
- Black construction paper
- Picture of a medical cross
- Cotton swabs
- Adhesive bandages
- Wooden sticks/tongue depressors
- Pictures of stethoscopes, medicine, thermometers, etc.
- Tape
- Glue
- Crayons, colored pencils, or markers
Teachers will need to gather supplies and do a little prep work. I suggest folding the black construction paper in half and cutting out a small circle or rectangle to make a handle before starting the craft with the kids. This helps with the flow of the morning.
Instruct each child to color and cut out the medical cross and glue or tape it to the front of their doctor bag.
This craft was fairly simple, and the kids could customize it according to their preferences. The littlest kids (Kindergarten) did the basic gluing and taping, as well as attempting to cut out pictures. The older kids (4-5th grades) were able to cut out more carefully and color in some of the pictures, too. Each child had their own doctor kit to take home and share with their parents.
A great way to drive a point home and make sure parents know what the focus of the day was is to print out small papers with verses that the kids can glue to their craft. You could use a verse like Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation….”
End your morning with a prayer for specific missionaries and a song. 😉